In physical distribution warehouses, cargoes such as merchandise are stored and the stored cargoes are carried out to the outside as appropriate. In warehouses of this type, a cargo handling apparatus may be used in order to move cargoes to a storage shelf, a conveyance conveyor, etc. A known cargo handling apparatus includes a robot arm and a holding unit such as an absorbing unit provided in a distal end of the robot arm to hold cargoes.
A plurality of cargoes are conveyed to a cargo handling apparatus while being stacked on a pallet. The cargo handling apparatus photographs a cargo group on the pallet with a camera from above, detects respective positions of cargoes based on photography information, holds cargoes one by one, and loads a held cargo on a conveyor or a storage shelf.